Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Will the Rays win another game this season? Is the question really that ridiculous? Last night the Orioles continued to stake their claim as the fourth best team in the AL East, with a 5-4 win over Tampa Bay. The loss was a season-high ninth straight for the Rays. It also marked the 56th time this season that the Rays have lost a game in which they held a lead. This time they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second only to give back five runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Jason Hammel cruised through the first three innings but couldn't hold the lead and was pulled with one out in the fifth. It was yet another opportunity for one of the Rays' young pitchers to step up and make a case for being included in the 2007 rotation. And yet again, that young pitcher failed to impress. The Rays did get runners to third base in both the seventh and eighth innings but couldn't score and loss number 94 was in the books. And with only 11 games remaining and six of those versus the Yankees and Red Sox, the Rays will have a hard time avoiding 100 losses. They would have to go 6-5 the rest of the way to avoid the dubious mark. This would mark the third time in franchise history that the team lost 100 games, and first since the shitty immortal manager Hal McRae.

Peter Angelos makes Vince Naimoli look like the greatest owner ever, a good owner, a decent owner, not so bad...Ahhh Nevermind, momentary brainfart.

If things weren't bad enough, now it looks like the greatest closer in the history of baseball will be making his minor league rehab appearances against the Devil Rays over the weekend.